In the News: July 2009 Archives

Billionaires to Celebrate Gov. Rell with Champagne, Limos Luxury Press Conference to Thank Rell for Standing Up for Billionaires

Who: Members of Billionaires for Budget Cuts, a diverse group of insurance company CEOs, bailed-out Wall Street executives, hedge fund managers, heiresses and a yacht-collecting playboy or two, advocating for the interests of Connecticut's extremely well-to-do and large corporations.

What: A celebration of the signing of Rell's second Executive Order, to cover the month of August

Why: To show sincere appreciation for Gov Rell's refusal to consider even a single penny in new taxes on the very rich, while slashing public services that the working and middle class depend on, and delaying our economic recovery. This way, Billionaires avoid even the slightest vexation as we continue to maintain the lavish lifestyle to which we are accustomed.

Photo OPP: Billionaires in tuxedos and ball gowns will offer a champagne toast to the Governor on the North Steps of the Capitol, while holding signs with slogans such as "Top 1%ers Unite," "What would George David do?" and "Taxes are for little people."

Background: Billionaires are meeting Thursday for a limo parade to the Capitol, followed by a luxury press conference and champagne toast to thank Governor Rell for standing up for the interests of the extremely wealthy.

"It takes a brave politician to stand up for the wealthy and powerful and ignore the needs of the middle class," said Iona Lottabotes, a co-chair of Billionaires for Budget Cuts. "I know I have no use for the High Meadows residential facility. So why shouldn't Governor Rell close it?"

"Every time the Governor has to choose between saving a life, and allowing us to live the life, she makes the right choice," said Robert Barron. "Who needs the LifeStar helicopter, when that same money could instead pay for my associates' 4-night stay at the Atlantis Paradise Hotel in the Bahamas?"

Billionaires for Budget Cuts is a diverse group of insurance company CEOs, bailed-out Wall Street executives, hedge fund managers, heiresses, yacht-collecting playboys, who have joined together to advocate for the interests of the extremely well-to-do and the state's largest corporations.DISCLOSURE: Billionaires for Budget Cuts is a wholly owned subsidiary of Connecticut Working Families. ###

Readers continue to write in about the Cheshire murders and the issue of redemption I brought up in last week's columns.

Many are also understandably outraged over an upcoming book about the Cheshire murders.

A better read, those supportive of redemption suggested, is The Shack.

I haven't read it yet. But here's a description from Amazon.

Mackenzie Allen Philips' youngest daughter, Missy, has been abducted during a family vacation and evidence that she may have been brutally murdered is found in an abandoned shack deep in the Oregon wilderness. Four years later in the midst of his Great Sadness, Mack receives a suspicious note, apparently from God, inviting him back to that shack for a weekend. Against his better judgment he arrives at the shack on a wintry afternoon and walks back into his darkest nightmare. What he finds there will change Mack's world forever. In a world where religion seems to grow increasingly irrelevant "The Shack" wrestles with the timeless question, "Where is God in a world so filled with unspeakable pain?"

Helen:I'm on official travel and unavailable. Further I can not access your link. Finally my employer has reminded me that I am barred from any communication with the Press as a condition of my employment. Therefore, I am unable to respond any inquiries from you.

Denise

Condition of her employment? Well, that was a surprise. (So was her claim that she was unavailable. I mean, its one thing for a secretary to run interference and claim someone is traveling and unavailable. But a message from THE SUBJECT to say that they're unavailable is, well, interesting.)

But back to that supposed condition of her employment. A federal agency declaring that talking to the press can put an employee's job in jeopardy sounds illegal to me - and I told her so.

But not to worry, I continued in the same email, I'd take it up with her supervisor.

But a Justice Department spokesperson did in a midnight email Friday that said any follow-up questions should be directed to the Office of Justice's communications department. So, I sent along a list of questions, which I hope will be answered soon.

In a subsequent phone call, the same spokesperson clarified that there is NO -- you read that right -- NO policy against employees from speaking to the press, especially when it comes to personal matters.

Good news, I wrote Denise Viera again, she's free to answer my questions:

Considering the ongoing Denise Viera blight saga, this is interesting. I'll follow up on this more later, but in the meantime, take a look at this press release from city hall.

Eddie A. Perez

Mayor

HARTFORD'S
ANTI-BLIGHT ORDINANCE STRONGER AND MORE EFFECTIVE

---NEWS RELEASE---

(July 16, 2009) --- Mayor Eddie A. Perez is applauding the
incredible community support that helped pass a tougher anti-blight ordinance
for the City of Hartford.The Mayor introduced the changes and City
Council passed the amendments that give the city more control and enforcement
power regarding this important quality of life issue in our community.

Mayor Perez says, "Thanks to the collaborative effort of
several community groups like HART and Hartford 2000 as well as key city
departments, we have now added teeth to our tenacious efforts to reduce blight
in all of our neighborhoods."

The key changes include being able to issue citations for a
wider variety of blight; clarifying, defining, and specifying examples of
blight; and increasing and enhancing enforcement powers.

For instance, chronic properties--- identified as having
things like hanging gutters, tall grass, broken windows, holes in the walls and
roof, etc--- are now subject to this broader definition of blight and thus
would be subject to multi-department inspections (health, fire marshal,
housing, etc).If the property owner
does not comply, the city now has greater authority and ability to take action
against them.The fine is $100 per day
per violation.

A colleague (and excellent photographer) made a good point about Denise Viera, the longtime housing official and now federal employee of an agency that aims to strengthen communities, who I've written about not once, or twice, but three times now. (I'm not even counting the number of blogs I've dedicated to her.)

If Viera continues to get away with not properly fixing her broken-down house, and not paying the outstanding city citations for neglecting her property, he said -- good for her.

Not that the Hartford resident supports blight or delinquent homeowners. But, he clarified, it's not as if anyone is pressuring her to clean up or pay up.

Nary a day goes by when some flak isn't complaining, whining or otherwise imploding over something I've written.

Goes with the territory.

But every once in a while these well-paid messengers have a point.

In my rush to post a blog about devastating cuts to AIDS programs in the state, I did what I never do for the print product -- I threw up an entry without reaching out to the other side.

And the governor's communications guy, Rich Harris, was none too happy about that -- especially since the Guv didn't exactly come out on top in my post.

This from an email he sent this morning: "Had you bothered to check...you would have learned that the four AIDS programs in question typically receive their payments from the state in late July and -- if there is no budget in place by then -- they will be funded in the first week of August through the next Executive Order."

That's what I like to call a e-spank.

Anyway, Harris attached a story by CTNewsJunkie to further make his point. (If you haven't checked out CTNewsJunkie, by the way, make sure you do. It's a fine news blog online news site.)

Fair enough.

But since we're on the topic of cuts, here's something I don't understand.

"First and foremost, people should rest assured that state government
will continue to operate - services will be delivered; we will care for
the vulnerable and the sick; public safety and public health will be
protected," Governor Rell said.

Why then, if those are her priorities, do so many of her proposed cuts [going forward] target the vulnerable and the sick?

This just in from Connecticut's Statewide Aids Coalition: Governor Closes Down Services for People with HIV/AIDS

And here's their press release:

Governor M Jodi Rell released her executive order on the state's budget late afternoon on July 30, 2009 which will allow certain services to continue for the month of July until a budget agreement can be achieved.

"First and foremost, people should rest assured that state government will continue to operate - services will be delivered; we will care for the vulnerable and the sick; public safety and public health will be protected," Governor Rell said.

"Apparently, that doesn't include people living with HIV/AIDS (PLHWAs) who remain among the most vulnerable and medically and socially fragile people in the state, "said Shawn M. Lang, Director of Public Policy with the CT AIDS Resource Coalition.

The governor's executive order zeroes out the three key AIDS lines in the Department of Public Health's budget including: (1) AIDS Services, which funds HIV prevention programs; (2) Syringe Exchange Programs, which funds five programs that have scientifically proven to prevent the spread of HIV among injecting drug users and take in thousands more used syringes than they distribute; and (3) Community Services for Persons with AIDS, which funds emergency housing and other supportive services.

It's a daily story delivered straight to your iPhone, iPod Touch, or other mobile device.

Here's his explanation: Whether on a lunchbreak, riding the train, or simply kicking back on the couch with a post-work beer, why not read something awesome.

This isn't another eBook store--this is something different, something simple: a new story, every day. Free and surprising, CellStories strives to bring you writing that's unexpected. Like all good stories, some are true, some are not, and many fall in that wonderful grey area between.